Longtime public servant steps down from her most recent post

Published 10:31 am Thursday, October 2, 2008

After more than 20 years devoted to public service, Snoqualmie resident Colleen Johnson stepped down from the most recent post that she has held for the past three years on the Snoqualmie Planning Commission on Dec. 5. Her term officially ended in October 2005.

“She has given so generously of her time,” said Snoqualmie Mayor Matt Larson, who presented her with a plaque commemorating her efforts at the Jan. 9 City Council meeting. “We wanted to commend her for the exceptional years she gave to the city.”

With emergency response being an especially important topic for Johnson, she said she will continue to be involved with the community through her Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training (for which she is currently taking courses), involvement at the Mount Si Senior Center and by maintaining her status as a reserve police officer.

“I have had the pleasure of working with Colleen on many different projects over many years,” former Snoqualmie Mayor Fuzzy Fletcher wrote in an e-mail. “A community does not grow and prosper unless the citizens get involved. Colleen has been involved … She has been involved, one way or another, in the city for longer than almost anyone else I know of and she has done a darn good job.”

She will also be taking some time for herself.

“I’ve been at this for a long time and I wanted a break,” she said, noting that she will continue to work. “I’m not ready to retire, though.”

She has been involved with many of the city’s major decisions in the past two decades through her work on the City Council for 16 years, along with her involvement with the Planning Commission, flood groups, police reserves and more. Johnson said she is proud of the many things she has done, though she doesn’t consider herself or her actions to be any different than anyone else.

Johnson said that, to her, the most significant developments during her time included the 205 Flood Reduction Project, the preservation of the Snoqualmie Falls View Shed and the Snoqualmie Ridge development.

“We’ve all been a new generation wanting to make changes,” she said in regards to the time that the idea for the Ridge was first proposed in the mid-1980s. “It was an interesting proposition … It was a popular and an unpopular concept. There was this idea that it would change the face of this town forever.”

Growing up in Snoqualmie, Johnson lived in Georgia in the mid-1970s with her then-husband. She said she saw a huge development built in the small town of 10,000 in which she lived.

“Within the site of the oldest plantation, there was a Wendy’s,” she said. “I didn’t want to see the same thing that happened in Georgia happen to Snoqualmie.”

So, realizing that development would happen eventually, she voted in favor of the Ridge so that the city could have some control over what would happen.

“Snoqualmie has a charm about it and it’s always been here,” she said. “[Even with the growth], I think it’s still a close-knit family. I think it’s a good cross-section.”

Since then, she has been pleased with the results.

“I’m a firm believer in picking your way through the tulips,” she said, noting that the quality infrastructure in place might prevent the city from ending up like congested Redmond and Issaquah. “I think any town has the potential to slide off the road, but as long as you have people who care, and I think we have that, I’m not too worried about it.”

The secret to effectiveness in city government, she said, is commitment and staying in touch with the people.

“You’re speaking for them,” she said.

The commission positions are appointed by the mayor and confirmed by the City Council. In January, Steve Johns was appointed to replace Johnson on the Planning Commission.

Gil Tumey also resigned from the Planning Commission this past November and Richelle Rose was appointed to that seat in January of this year.